Psalm 31:24 jumped off the page - Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD (NIV). I was curious at the use of the word hope as opposed to trust. I am well aware that I need to embody both of those traits these days, but I am not always clear on the distinction. I busted out the concordance to do some detective work. It turns out that the Hebrew root for hope as it is used in this verse is yachal (there should be a little carrot over the first a, but I don't know how to type that). It means "to wait; by implication be patient" and the synonyms are "be pained, stay, tarry, trust, wait". On the other hand, the word translated as trust in many of the psalms is from the Hebrew root batach which means "to be confident or sure".
I like the distinction. I am also appreciative of the timely reminder that the difficulty of hope lies in the painful reality that it involves waiting for what is lacking, what is yet to be. Hope is not the necessarily warm and fuzzy feeling that I imagine. I will be mulling that over for a while.
In the meantime, I want to practice the discipline of active, expectant waiting. I want to leap.
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